Sometimes you just know when you’ve teamed-up with the right person. Meet Miche, the latest to collaborate on one of my crazy Fringe shows…
Getting To Know You
I had a ‘production meeting’ (coffee and cake) this week with Miche, the latest to collaborate on one of my crazy Fringe shows. Sometimes you just know when you’ve teamed-up with the right person. Though we’ve known one another for twenty-five years, we realised that we’d never really taken the time to get to know each other properly.
Miche lives a few doors from where both of my children were born and DJs in a local pub venue, where I’ve had the pleasure to perform numerous times. Well, not any venue: it’s the location of our up-coming joint Bath Fringe outing, namely The Bell on Walcot Street in Bath. And – if you’ve never been before – you’re in for a treat. We’ll be in the back bar, affectionately known as the Love Lounge. Which is the ideal location for our show “Love and Hope”.
Mutual Trust
During our conversation, we covered a lot of ground. To the layperson, it may have seemed as though we were just wasting time, chewing the fat and putting the world to rights. But the creative process is a mysterious beast. In order to effectively collaborate, it’s important to establish mutual trust and open-heartedness. Any public performance demands a level of vulnerability. So, in order to work with somebody new, you have to lay yourself bare. Well, not literally – the gentil clientele of the Holburne Museum café were traumatised enough by our raucous and unfiltered dialogue!
Time and again, Miche would be holding-forth on a topic dear to her heart and I’d say “I have a new song precisely about that!”. And her response to my description of one of the more personal songs led to a “Eureka” moment. I knew that the final ingredient for this show had – until now – eluded me. And here it was. Thanks Miche.
New Songs & Old Favourites
What was it? Well, you’ll just have to come to The Bell on May 28th (8pm) to find out. What I can say is you’ll get a raft of new songs (and some old favourites) from me and my long-term collaborator Rob Whale. These deliver tales of protest, love and redemption, in a folk-pop style, somewhere in the region of Billy Bragg, Levellers and Beans on Toast. Interspersed will be soulful discs that DJ “Mumma Quiche” (that’s Miche) will spin, selected spontaneously, in response to each song.
Get Involved
So, come along and get involved. Come and dance, sing, listen and be uplifted. Let’s be honest, right now we could all use some love and hope!
See you there…
Where & When
The Bell Inn ‘Love Lounge’, 103 Walcot Street, Bath BA1 5BW
Wed 28th May 2025 – 8:00pm